Tedford mourns passing of Ted Agu

From across the country, Jeff Tedford mourned the death of Cal defensive lineman Ted Agu in a Friday morning conditioning run.

Agu came to Cal in 2010 as a walk-on and it didn’t take long for Tedford, Cal’s head coach at the time, to come to like and respect him. Tedford is now offensive coordinator of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I gave Tedford a call for his reaction to Agu’s death and he called me back promptly.

“I can’t tell you how sad that makes me feel,” he said. “He was a great young man, a guy who epitomized everything about a scholar-athlete. Just a tremendously hard worker, cared about his teammates. Would do anything for the team. Definitely a very sad day.”

Tedford was especially moved by the circumstances of Agu’s death, coming as it did during a team conditioning run outside Memorial Stadium.

“When I heard, I couldn’t believe it,” Tedford said. “I can’t imagine what his teammates are going through. I feel for his teammates. Seeing someone they love and respect have that happen, I can’t imagine what they’re going through.”

Although Cal’s most recent graduation rate was grim compared to other schools in the major conferences, Agu was an exception in the classroom.

“He was a very good student,” Tedford said. “Having balanced the workload he had academically — he had a difficult academic schedule — he always managed it well. He was a model student, a model person. It saddens me to hear about it. To pass away at such a young age is very sad.”